Cold Facts About Hot Flashes

The number one reason most women start systemic estrogen is to treat hot flashes once they realize that yoga, carrying a portable fan, and dressing in layers are not real solutions. Hot flashes occur in 75 percent of menopausal women and typically begin as a sudden sensation of heat on the face and upper chest that becomes generalized. A severe flash can be pretty intense (I call it the furnace inside you) lasting between two and four minutes with profuse sweating, followed by chills and shivering. Physiologically, a hot flash happens for the same reason that you sweat in a sauna… the body is trying to cool down. The difference is, you don’t really need to cool down, but your menopausal brain thinks you do. While most last 2-4 years, some women will experience flashes for up to 10 years. About 10 percent…forever.

Toughing it out works out for some women, but other’s who have severe hot flashes though out the day and nights are totally blind sided by just how debilitating hot flashes can be. Estrogen therapy will eliminate or dramatically reduce flashes, but many women choose not to take estrogen, or have been advised by their doctors to steer clear. In fact only 7 percent of women with hot flashes ultimately accept a prescription for estrogen. As an estrogen alternative, menopause experts, including myself, often prescribe one of the antidepressants which years ago were serendipitiously found to reduce hot flashes in menopausal women. This of course is the rationale for Brisdelle; the FDA approved option of low dose paroxetine, one of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants.

While numerous scientific studies have shown that many antidepressants are effective at reducing hot flashes, no studies have compared antidepressants, estrogen and placebo in the same study.

In the May 27 issue of JAMA, a new research study is published looking specifically at this issue. 339 peri and postmenopausal women in the study took estrogen, venlafaxine (an antidepressant), or a placebo for 8 weeks. Women that took the venlafaxine had a reduction in hot flashes that was essentially as good as women that took low dose estrogen.

In addition to flash frequency, this study also looked at “treatment satisfaction” and interference of symptoms with daily life and found that treatment satisfaction was highest for estradiol, intermediate for venlafaxine, and lowest for placebo.

The study is somewhat limited in that it was short (only 2 months) and did not evaluate libido or weight gain, both of which have been shown to be affected by antidepressants used in typical doses used to treat depression. That evaluation would require a longer study and more women. But, be that as it may, this is still important information and confirms that venlafaxine, like other SSRI’s and SNRI’s, at least in the short term, not only reduces hot flashes, but does it almost as well as estrogen.

Every once in awhile someone will say, my grandmother didn’t take anything for hot flashes, why should I? Well grandma was more likely to be home baking cookies than doing a job that required a good night’s sleep and the ability to think clearly. Grandma may have been having occasional sex with Grampa, (there’s a visual I didn’t need to give you!) but was unlikely to be starting a second marriage or a new relationship in her 50’s. Grandma likely did not live nearly as long as you will. So whether you chose to take hormone therapy or an alternative, if your flashes are getting in the way of your sleep, your sexual health or your quality of life, know that you have options.

Get the latest health updates

Thanks for signing up!

Oops!

A system error was encountered. Please try again later.

Follow us on your favorite social network!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lauren Streicher, MD

Lauren Streicher, MD is an Associate Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University’s medical school, The Feinberg School of Medicine. Her clinical interests include all aspects of...read more